Background...

After Madame Web's debut in Amazing Spider-Man #210,
Spidey dukes it out with Sub-Mariner and
Peter is awakened for the first time by the hopeless country sound of Lonesome
Pinky. Our hero meets and beats Hydro-Man, dates Debbie Whitman, and gets his
job back at the Daily Bugle. He accidentally bleaches out his Spidey suit,
battles a mechanical spider sicced on him by the Wizard and his new mysterious
female partner, enounters a gorgeous new neighbor that has him forgetting Debbie
Whitman, and fights a fire on the roof of his building... a fire set off by the
Wizard. With the residents of the building put up in a hotel until repairs are
made, Peter cuddles with his new neighbor even though he doesn't even know her
name.

Later he teams up with Sub-Mariner, only to be defeated by the Frightful
Four (the Wizard, the Sandman, the Trapster, and the mystery woman). He is
beaten bloody by the Sandman and runs to Debra Whitman for solace. He is put in
a death trap by the Wizard and is saved by the Sub-Mariner. The mystery fourth
member of the evil FF is revealed to be Llyra, an old enemy of Sub-Mariner. And
Peter is heartbroken to discover, when his new love attacks him with a knife,
that his mystery neighbor is Llyra (this time in disguise), too. Which brings us
to ASM #216 and the return of Madame Web.

It is a chilly Spring day and Spidey is in a dark mood. The fire damage to his
building is repaired so he must leave his plush hotel room. His leg hurts him
badly, his costume is torn up and his head is woozy from his battle with the
Frightful Four. He decides he needs some TLC from Debbie Whitman, so he stashes
his websack of possessions and his costume and heads for the subway. (But he
wears a bandage wrapped around his head. Not a good fashion statement by our
hero.) While on the subway, Peter muses about his relationship with Debbie. He
decides that he has not appreciated her enough. Maybe this is finally the woman
for him. Maybe this is the woman who can make him get over Gwen Stacy and settle
down.

The subway car arrives in Greenwich Village and Peter limps out. On his way to
the surface, he sees a poster urging people to vote for Barney Wicker who is
"running for the seat in Congress that became vacant last month". But Peter's
not too interested in that. He has arrived at Debbie's building which looks to
him "like a cool glass of water in a desert".

He gets to her door and knocks, announcing himself. But Debbie, startled by his
unexpected arrival, won't invite him in. She already has company in the form of
Biff Rifkin, a friend from her hometown. Biff is the type of fellow who says
things like "Hi, Guy! Do any little thing for you?" and "Hasta la vista, chumgo!
Don't take any wooden subway tokens." but he also has his arm around Debbie and
that speaks volumes to Pete. He leaves, with the memory of the kiss he shared
with Debbie causing "something cold [to form] in the pit of his stomach".

Outside, Peter realizes that his leg hurts so badly he should go to the
hospital. It is too painful to continue walking so, risking exposure, he takes
to the webs without donning his costume. He swings by a residence where a couple
is arguing. The man can't believe his overweight wife has spent thirty dollars
for a new pair of shoes... shoes she plans to wear in the marathon. On the
television, a talking head is informing the public that the "first annual Spring
marathon" takes place tomorrow. "Over 16,000 entrants are expected to run the 26
mile course through all five New York City boroughs. The event is being held to
handle the overflow of athletes from the great Fall race."

But Peter has heard none of this news. He arrives at the Greenwich Village
Medical Center and swings onto the roof. It is late but there are still alot of
people on the street so, rather than climb down the side of the wall, Pete
lowers himself down an air shaft by his web. "Emergency ward", he says, "here I
come".

Three hours later, Peter's X-rays are finally ready. ("What'd you do", he says
to the Doc, "hand paint 'em?") He is told that his leg isn't broken but he does
have a severe sprain. The doctor tells him to stay off the leg for a week and
that she will be right back with a bandage. But while the doctor is gone, Pete
overhears a conversation taking place on the other side of the curtain that
serves as a wall to the examination room. "You got the spot picked out?", asks
one voice. "Yeah, and the gun is ready.", is the reply. "He thought he'd win.
But that sucker'll be outta the race... permanent.", says one figure. "Yeah.
Ain't never gonna run again.", says another. Pete realizes that they are
discussing murder.

Peter peeks through the curtain in time to see three people running for the
exit. He tries to follow but is hobbled by his bad leg. Nevertheless, he makes
it all the way outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the conspirators.
Unfortunately, the trio board a taxi and Pete never gets a good look. He returns
to the examination room, wondering who their intended victim is. The doctor is
there, ready to wrap his leg with an Ace bandage. While she does so, Pete asks
if she knows who was in the adjoining cubicle. "They could've been anyone.", the
doctor replies.

This conversation is interrupted by an injured runner being helped into the
emergency room by two other runners. "Oh dear. Another running injury.", the
doctor says and immediately gives the marathoner preferential treatment. Peter
eavesdrops and puts two and two together. "Those guys said the guy they kill
will be 'out of the race'," he recalls and comes to the conclusion that "They're
planning to shoot one of the marathon runners."

As he puts his boot back on, Peter considers the possibilities. There are
sixteen thousand entrants in the marathon and the victim could be any one of
them. The race covers twenty-six miles of streets and nearly every building in
that length could harbor a sniper. "It'd take a miracle worker to tell where the
killer will be hiding", he decides. But, fortunately, Pete knows a
miracle worker. Her name is Madame Web.

From a pay phone, Pete calls the psychic. He doesn't have to say a word. Madame
Web knows who is calling and why. Unfortunately, though, the "psychic vectors
are not in proper alignment for me to peer into the future", she tells Peter.
(Uh... if you say so, MW.) She can give him none of the information he seeks.
Still, if anything becomes clear, she tells him, she will pass the information
along. Frustrated, Peter decides to forget the whole thing and go home. He
leaves the hospital and, standing next to another sign urging New Yorkers to
vote for Wicker (do you get it yet?), he hails a cab and returns to 410 Chelsea
Street.

Back home, things look fine from the outside but the inside is another matter.
The damage from the fire has not been repaired. In Pete's apartment, the "walls
are stained, plaster's cracked, water damage everywhere". The worst thing,
though, is the smell of smoke which has worked its way into everything...
including all of Pete's clothes. He needs a whole new wardrobe and, if that
isn't bad enough, his country-singing next door neighbor starts warbling again.
("O the fire burnt up my favorite cactus, didn't even need no practice." Ouch.)
Pete retreats to the bathroom to put cold water on his face. While there, he
consoles himself with the notion that he's not the only loser in New York City.
"Like that guy in the race tomorrow, probably has no idea anybody's gunning for
him". (Hold it. The race is tomorrow? Then what about those injured runners in
the hospital? Well, they were practicing for tomorrow's race, see. They
were even wearing numbers so their practice would look really authentic. All
right?) And the more Pete thinks about it, the more he knows that,
"half-crippled, tired, depressed, overworked" as he may be, he cannot stand idly
by and let any harm come to anyone.

So it is that, the next morning, as sixteen thousand fill the Verrazano bridge
waiting for the marathon to start, Spider-Man sits atop the bridge's highest
tower, keeping an eye on things. He remembers that the mystery men referred to
the frontrunner (get it now?) so he decides to focus on the first hundred
runners or so. Suddenly, the silence of the morning is shattered by a "screech
of tires". A lone car, "doing at least ninety" crashes through the police
barricades and heads right for the mass of marathoners. In a flash, the
wall-crawler leaps down and shoots webbing under the tires, bringing the car to
an abrupt stop. Spidey jumps down to the car (hurting his leg in the process),
considering the idea that the driver is an assassin trying to make the killing
look like an accident. But he quickly notices that it "smells like a distillery"
in the car. The driver is a passed-out drunk. As Spidey remains distracted by
the car, the race begins. Spidey runs along the cables of the bridge, anxious to
reach some buildings so he can web-swing instead of using his bum leg. He
manages to keep up with the racers but he fails to notice that the emergency
phone on the bridge is ringing.

The mass of runners stretches across the bridge, allowing little room to
maneuver. In the crunch, no one notices that a wheelchair racer has been pushed
to the edge of the bridge. Before anyone knows it's happening, the disabled
participant tumbles right over the side. With a quick shot of webbing, Spidey
snags the racer and brings him back up to the bridge. The man is courageously
unfazed by the incident. "Soon as I catch my breath", he declares, "I'm gettin'
back in the race". Just then, another emergency phone rings. Spidey hears this
one, but he ignores it. He's too busy following the flow of the runners as they
leave the bridge behind and "scatter onto the streets of Brooklyn". ("How far we
gone?", asks one winded participant. "Two miles", answers another. "I'm gonna
die", says the first one.)

But nobody is going to die if Spidey has anything to say about it. He spots a
shadowed figure standing on an overpass as the racers run by below. And it looks
like the figure is holding a rifle. The webhead swings into action, clearing the
restraining fence of the overpass and kicking the figure squarely in the chest.
He grabs the man by the lapels of his coat and waves a fist in the man's face.
But it isn't a rifle that the man is toting. It is a banjo. With the offended
musician threatening to report our hero to "the police, the FBI!", Spider-Man
swings off... "too embarrassed to apologize". (Now, there's a lame
excuse.)

One hour and fourteen miles of running later, the marathoners reach the
Fifty-Ninth Street Bridge heading into Manhattan. Spidey is worn out just
keeping track of them. "Why don't they have the decency to collapse?", he asks
himself, "I never thought I'd hate physical fitness". Now, as the runners arrive
in Manhattan, comes the hard part. "The course goes past a hundred skyscrapers
and apartment buildings", all potential hiding places for a gunman. A block from
the oncoming racers, four men on a burned-out tenement, are using the fire
escape as a perch. When a fifth man arrives, they welcome him, but the weight
becomes too much. The fire escape pulls loose from the wall and plunges toward
the street. But, standing on one lamp post and hooking his webbing to another,
Spider-Man snags the falling fire escape. The five men climb to earth courtesy
of a web ladder. But, in the meantime, the racers have gotten three blocks ahead
so Spidey hurries off, unaware of yet another Wicker poster and yet another
ringing telephone.

Catching up to the race, Spidey spots a pickpocket working the crowd. He has no
time to stop and apprehend him but he can "put a crimp in his style". As he
swings by, he shoots two sprays of webbing on the pickpocket's hands. It looks
like the crook is wearing boxing gloves. There will be no more thievery for at
least another hour.

Twenty miles into the race, the runners cross the Willis Avenue Bridge into the
Bronx. It is the time of the race where exhaustion kicks in and "the runners
myst rely on determination and courage". But, for some, courage is not enough.
One runner has a heart attack and collapses. The nearest ambulance is oblivious
to his plight. It is at a gas station getting a fill-up. All they have to keep
them busy, complains the paramedic, are sprained ankles and infected blisters.
But that changes quickly, as the stricken runner is lowered down to the
ambulance by means of a spider's web. "Better hurry", Spidey tells the ambulance
crew, "He's alive but he's in bad shape."

It's only a couple of miles now to Central Park and the finish line. Waiting at
the park entrance are J. Jonah Jameson, Peter's Aunt May, and May's main squeeze
of the time Nathan Lubensky. JJJ is telling May that he is there to take
pictures and "show your nephew how it's done". (But who knows why May and Nathan
are there.) Jonah is not pleased when the first arrival to the finish line is
Spider-Man. "You can stop pretending to be a photographer", the wall-crawler
tells the publisher and Jonah is so incensed at the comment that he blusters for
a bit before he realizes that Spidey has webbed up his camera. "Errrr!", says
Jameson.

Spidey swings back to the runners who are now a half-mile from the finish. He
has checked bushes and trees and there is no sign of any gunman. Again, a pay
phone rings and again the webster swings right by, but this time a specatator
answers it. "It's for you, Spider-Man, sir!", he yells at the web-swinger.
Spidey can't believe that anyone would know that he is there but he takes the
call. It is Madame Web telling him that the "psychic vectors have aligned". She
has his information. "Two men armed with armalite AR-10 automatic rifles are
waiting at the water tower fifty yards to the right of the finish line", she
tells him, "Their intended victim is named Barney Wicker." Spidey races off,
leaving the phone receiver dangling. He can't believe how dense he's been about
all this. "The killers meant 'race' as in politics", he realizes, "Not as in
running!" But the two 'races' are about to collide head-on. Barney Wicker is
scheduled to greet the marathon winner "and when he does they'll have a clear
shot at him".

The web-slinger leaps over the finish line banner and podium and swings to the
water tower. There are indeed two men with rifles there and they decide they
have to kill Spider-Man if they hope to accomplish their mission. They fire off
several bursts and it is only Spidey's speed and agility that keep him from
being shot. He hides on the other side of the tower and considers his moves. He
doesn't dare attempt a direct attack. Not against such fire power and with that
bum leg. At any moment, the gunmen will circle around and spot him. Gripping the
top of the tower, he considers, "Maybe I can heave this roof down on 'em". But
the roof is heavy and Spidey is exhausted. His "arms feel like spaghetti" but he
reaches inside himself for one big final push. With a "Skrakch!", the roof lifts
off the tower and falls on top of the two killers. Spidey can barely stand up
but the gunmen are unconscious. The assassination has been aborted. Spider-Man
is the victor. Down at the finish line, another man has reached inside himself
to "find one final effort". The crowd, arms raised, cheer the runner. The
marathon, both marathons, have been won.

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